The West Virginia Freedom of Information Act (“Act”), W.Va. Code §29B-1-1 et seq., requires public bodies to provide public records in response to requests, unless those records are exempt from disclosure in accordance with the Act.

Filing a Request

No particular form is required to submit a FOIA request. To make sure we understand exactly what you want, we need your request to be in writing. A request may be made via letter or email. If you would like to email a FOIA request, we have a form you may use on this website. Click on the FOIA Request form button below.

Costs

Reports and documents normally distributed to the public are available without cost, unless you are requesting several copies or producing the copies would be burdensome or expensive. If there will be a cost, we will let you know the amount before we make the copies, unless you give us a limit.

The cost for copying records in a paper form is $.50 per page. Documents maintained electronically are typically available on CD-ROM at a cost of $21.00.

Checks should be made payable to “State of West Virginia.”

Unclaimed Property Records

The State Treasurer’s Office receives many requests for Unclaimed Property records. Please look through our FAQ's before submitting.

The West Virginia State Treasurer’s Office (“STO”) can provide on CD-ROM the database of unclaimed property owner names and cities of last known address, as those records appear on the STO web site. However, any further information regarding unclaimed property owners is exempt from the provisions of the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act contained in West Virginia Code §29B-1-1 et seq. Specifically, West Virginia Code §36-8-25 states that: “Records of abandoned property kept by the administrator are available for inspection and copying only by an owner of such property as to the particular property he or she owns, or by his or her personal representative, next of kin, attorney at law or such person entitled to inherit from the owner conducting a legal audit thereof. These records are exempt from the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-b of this code.”

Lists of outstanding state checks which were issued less than six months previously may be obtained on CD-ROM. Stale dated state checks with a date of issue older than six months are exempt from disclosure pursuant to W.Va. Code §12-3-1, which states that “Any information or records maintained by the treasurer concerning any check which has not been presented for payment within six months of the date of issuance may only be disclosed to the state agency specified on the check, or to the payee, his or her personal representative, next of kin or attorney-at-law and is otherwise confidential and exempt from disclosure under the provisions of article one, chapter twenty-nine-b of this code.”

Unfortunately, information regarding businesses under examination for unclaimed property is exempt from WVFOIA pursuant to W.Va. Code §36-8-20(d), which states, in part, that “Documents and working papers obtained or compiled by the administrator, or the administrator’s agents, employees or designated representatives, in the course of conducting an examination are confidential and are not public records.”